


Of Gods and Nations

by WierdShit



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Gen, Magic, My First AO3 Post, My First Work in This Fandom, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Apocalypse, i don't know how to tag
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 04:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 14,900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28825044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WierdShit/pseuds/WierdShit
Summary: As they say, life finds a way. From between the cracks in the asphalt the budding leaves of society rise again in the shadows of skyscrapers. Humanity is left to pick up the scraps left behind after the devastating war. The magical nukes leave only a few alive and most of the older generation dies within a few months of the apocalypse. While the world may have fallen, man rises. Now, generations after the war, they live in the shadows of what their grandiose ancestors left behind. Will they be able to avoid the mistakes of their predecessors? Or is humanity destined to forever repeat it's cycle of war and destruction?A very dramatic retelling of the events of the Dream SMP that we all know and love, except with a twist.
Relationships: Clay | Dream & GeorgeNotFound & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Clay | Dream & Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), No Romantic Relationship(s), Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	1. Rise of the White Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old souls are awoken from their slumber and the sun rises once more from behind the spires of silver.

It all started like any other day. George and Sapnap would clamber over the old ruins and try to scavenge what could still be used from the carcass of a tractor left in the field or a dilapidated farmhouse. It wasn’t much, but it was honest work. He almost wondered what it looked like before. He adjusted the white cloth wrapped around his forehead as he looked through the car’s glove box. 

Nothing.

Hopefully they’d have better luck with the trunk. Leaning back in the front car seat, he turned to his bespectacled companion. “What do you think it looked like, ya know before the whole” he flippantly waved his hand, “apocalypse or whatever.” A pair of mismatched eyes gave him a withering look from behind bright white goggles. “Why are you asking me?” he retorted, “Is this some roundabout way of telling me that I look old?” Sapnap couldn’t help but burst into laughter at that. He kicked his feet up onto the dashboard of the old car and gave his friend a wink. “It’s alright, George,” he said with an exaggerated sigh, “not everyone can look as good as I do.” The brunette rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” he muttered, “now get over here and help me with the trunk or else we’ll never make it back before nightfall.” Reluctantly he squeezed out of the front seat and went out back to help him force open the trunk. 

The car probably had been shiny once, just like in the faded magazines scattered about some of the houses. Now thought it was a dark brown from the layers of rust that was caked onto it. George had already gotten out his crowbar and was trying to pry the thing open. After a considerable amount of effort, the two were able to get the lid of the trunk to bust open. The man beside him grinned, "Jackpot!" Inside were several potions, probably for emergencies, along with an odd paper. His friend didn't really seem to care about the parchment though, and was currently checking out the loot. It made sense, since usually he didn't make the potions. Well, brew them. Magic was confusing and he didn’t try and mess with it too much. He knew enough to fix his communicator when he needed to or how to make a rough healing potion and that was really enough. There weren’t many other situations where he would need a higher understanding of magic anyways since it wasn’t really a hobby of his or anything. Sure it would be cool to get one of the cars running but it wasn’t anything important. It wasn’t like it would be able to go anywhere since the roads are in such a state of disrepair. 

The brunette beside him was already starting to count and catalogue the potions they’d found when he began to inspect the parchment paper. It was old and worn, but still readable. It was a miracle that it wasn’t crumbling in his hands. Karl had a lot of newer looking texts that looked worse for wear. It seemed like some kind of map. Unfamiliar symbols and lettering littered the paper and what he assumed were roads crisscrossed the map. It was weird to think that the grassy hill that they were currently on could’ve been a road once. Probably a dirt road, if anything since they were so far out from a city but it was an interesting thought. What really stood out though, was a single mark just to the left of the center of the folded paper. It didn’t look like Old Script like the rest of the symbols and was instead just a dark X with a single road that led to it. 

“Hey, George, take a look at this,” he said, tapping his friend’s shoulder, “It looks like some kind of old map. What do you think’s at the big X?” The brunette looked up from the growing list of supplies they’d retrieved to look at the worn map. He scrutinized it and gave it a noncommittal shrug. “I don’t know what’s there, and I don’t need to find out.” his companion said, “We got what we need and I can’t even read Old Script anyway.” He began putting the glass bottles carefully into the satchel he had and closed the trunk. Tucking the map into his pocket, he walked alongside his friend. “You’re so boringggg,” Sapnap groaned, “imagine, it could be some crazy warehouse with tons of loot! Rows upon rows of every potion you could imagine!” He dramatically waved his arms to illustrate his point. Imagine all of the cool stuff they’d be able to find! It was _bound_ to be something epic, and he couldn’t help but hope that there was some sort of fabulous treasure. Run-down cars tended to get old after a while. 

“C’mon,” he needled, “we’re going to visit Karl tomorrow anyways! He’d probably be able to read the map and it's been a while since we’ve gone on any real adventures! It’ll be fun!” He gave George a friendly shoulder bump as they started their walk back to base and his companion couldn’t help but smile. “Fineeee,” he sighed, “it’d be nice to go out on a little expedition.” He laughed heartily and slapped his friend on the back, saying, “That’s what I’ve been saying! I was starting to get worried that you’d somehow been possessed by the soul of some old lady!” Grinning he straightened up and said matter-of-factly in a hilariously bad imitation of his companion, “We have to write down what we have or we’ll end up in the middle of the city, surrounded by creepers with only fire resistance pots. Oh no don’t touch that Sapnap we don’t need that. There’s so much dust, Sapnap, do you even clean your room?” He couldn’t help but cackle as George’s ears began to get red. Laughing, he broke into a run as he heard him call out, “Take that back!” Running back towards base he threw back over his shoulder, “Oh, sorry Mrs. Notfound, did I interrupt your knitting session?” After that he’d bolted, since he was really in for it now! He ran, his laughter giddy and light despite the bleakness of the landscape. He’d never known anything but rolling fields and crumbling cities and he was fine with that. Sure, maybe the Ancients had left huge skyscrapers that were fun to climb, but he’d never really had the fervent curiosity that some of the others had. I mean they’re already gone, why spend so much time on them? They had some useful things but he really didn’t see any need to learn irrelevant stuff like their wars. Really, it was their business and he wasn’t going to pry into what happened long before his grandparents were even born. There was just no need.

Smirking, he hopped over the waist high wire fence that ran around the farmhouse they made into a home. He couldn’t help but stick his tongue out at George and jokingly mocked, “Does the old lady need a cane?” Pausing a little to give a theatrical gasp at the notion, the brunette exclaimed, “Oh now you’re in for it!” Charging forward he tackled him and the two of them rolled down the hill from the force of the collision. “You’re only mad because you know it’s true!” he cackled. The mood suddenly shifted as the crackling of magic was heard. They hadn’t realized it, but the sun had already begun to set over the horizon and the monsters were starting to spawn. Of course, it was much less of a problem here than it was in the city. They’d been hit a lot harder with the magical fallout and so they always spawned nastier hordes of undead. Carefully getting to his feet, he scanned the green sea of grass just in case something had spawned nearby. Luckily there was nothing, but you could never be too careful. 

“That’s enough goofing around, I think,” George whispered, “we should probably get inside about now.” Climbing up the steps to the front door, Sapnap carefully checked the living room for any monsters. While they did spawnproof the place, they’d never gotten around to fixing the door so sometimes there’d be an errant zombie or skeleton to jumpscare them as they tried to enter their base. Neither of them were builders and it was probably for the best if they didn’t try and renovate the farmhouse. He was pretty sure it’d end up looking worse than before. Once he was sure there was nothing hiding in the dark corners of the room he hauled open the trapdoor to the cellar and climbed in. Inside, he was greeted with the warm light of home. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. 

Presumably, the room had been some sort of storage room before they’d moved in. There were rows and rows of steel shelves, covered in things that he’d known the names for and some that he didn’t. The two of them had dumped the stuff they couldn’t use in one of the upstairs bedrooms to make space for their own stuff and they’d even moved them around. Now instead of orderly rows the shelves were pushed up against the walls to make the room feel less cramped. He’d been the one to have the brilliant idea to use some of the shelving units that didn’t fit along the wall as little partitions so he could pretend that they had their own rooms. All in all, it was pretty cosy and he was really proud of their little base. He was taken out of his thoughts as the resounding thump of George closing the trapdoor echoed throughout the room. The snick of the lock coming into place was comforting and he let out a big sigh.

Flopping onto his bed, he grinned, "That was a close one, wasn't it?" His companion opened his satchel instead and began putting away the potions. "Yeah," he said, "a little _too_ close if I'm being honest." Sapnap huffed out a laugh before sitting up in the bed that they'd dragged down here from the upper stories of the house. Noticing a little glimmer from his comforter, he picked up the little crystal he'd stashed there beforehand. Picking up his soul stone, he laid back so that he could hold it up to the light. The amber rock almost looked like it was the solid embodiment of the flames that flickered in the torches set up around the room. Soul stones were something that always fascinated him, even when he was younger. He remembered asking his mom about them when he was little. She'd always carefully explain that they were "a little home for your soul" and that no matter where he went his soul would return. It was a little sappy, sure, but it was always a little comforting to know that he could choose where he respawned. The alternative was to wake up in pain and alone in one of the public respawn points in the nearby city. They weren’t necessarily terrible, per se. The crumbling atriums were usually repaired so they could be at least usable, and the giant crystal that was always hung overhead would always cast a calm blue glow over everything. His mother had brought him there once to show him where to go if she didn’t respawn back at home. He vividly remembered the sense of awe that pervaded him as he gazed at the enormous building. Despite the crumbling facade and boarded up windows, he could tell that it had once been something grand. The moth-eaten remains of once colorful tapestries and banners hung over magnificent pillars. Even though they were chipping in some places, they stood firm, like silent stone soldiers. It had an aura of ancient power, of long forgotten times and a distant past that his mother had only heard about in stories. The inside was a lot like the outside of the building. It had that same grandeur that nobody ever really saw outside of cities anymore. A tall crystalline dome that made him gasp despite the shattered panes and overgrown vines. It was like a giant shield protecting the heart of the room—a huge crystal suspended by chains from the base of the dome. The pulsating blue glow illuminated the room in soothing tones and thrummed with magic. As his mother described it, “the ultimate soul stone”. It would be where you respawned if you somehow broke your own stone or didn’t manifest it yet. Rubbing his thumb over the warm surface of his own soul stone, Sapnap was brought back to the present. Turning to his friend, he asked, “Your soul stone is blue, right?” He got a silent nod in return. Pressing on, he continued, “How does yours manifest? It’s different for everyone, right?” Putting away the last potion and setting down his bag, George asked, “Why are you asking this all of the sudden?” He gave a thoughtful hum, “I was just thinking about it, I guess. I’ve only ever seen me or my parents manifest their soul stones and it’s always really different.” Putting the small rock back under his pillow, he stated, “My dad tended to find his around riverbanks, whereas my mom usually found them in flowerfields.” 

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he shook his head and laughed, “that just made it a huge shock when I broke mine and it manifested in the ashes of our campfire a few days later.”

“Well, my mom always thought that the way soul stones manifest reflect the person they belong to,” he mentioned, taking off his goggles and setting them by his own mattress on the far side of the room. “She was superstitious like that. Before I left I broke my soul stone once and I think I ended up finding it in the woods at the base of a tree. She told me that it was a sign of big things in my future but honestly I don’t know. I just found it there. I don’t think it really means anything.” It made sense, he guessed. “I mean, I don’t know anything about magic, but it makes sense,” he mused, “I mean, they’re supposed to be a physical vessel for our soul if we die, right? I mean the point that everyone tends to find them in different ways sounds kind of like a magic thing.”

“Yeah, I guess,” he yawned, “Anyways, I’m going to bed, Sapnap.”

“I swear if we’re late tomorrow because you won’t wake up.”

The only response to his half-hearted threat was a careless murmur of acknowledgement before his friend was out like a light. He never understood how he could sleep so easily. Maybe that’s why George could never wake up on time. It was the cost of being able to fall asleep almost anywhere, just like in the old stories about magic. There was always a cost of some kind. He couldn’t help but snort a little as he slid under the covers and closed his eyes, drifting off into a gentle slumber. 

* * *

  
  


The next morning was just as he expected. He’d literally been able to pack up everything he needed and somehow George was _still_ snoring soundly. Dropping his pack noisily on the ground by the hatch, he marched over to the bed where a certain brunette was still sleeping. Grinning, he leaned close and took a deep breath.

“GEORGEE!!” he hollered at the top of his lungs, “WAAAKE UUUPPPP!!”

Groaning sleepily, his friend rolled over and threw a pillow at him, which he barely dodged. “Fuck you, Sapnap,” he snarled, reluctantly rolling out of bed. 

“C’mon, you know that if I didn’t do that you wouldn’t wake up,” he laughed, “you can sleep through almost anything. Next thing you know you’ll end sleeping through the entire day!”

Fastening the straps on his pack and rubbing his eyes groggily, he made his way to the hatch. The brunette unlocked it and then lifted the trapdoor slightly to check for monsters. Pulling down his goggles, he scanned the room before pushing it open entirely. It opened with a slight whump as Sapnap grabbed his bag and clambered out. The morning sun cast shifting beams of sunlight across the old house. According to Karl, it was probably a vacation house since most of the linens and pillows had been carefully put away. It was a wonderful find since a lot of the bedding in the cities had been taken already. Pillows were nice, sure, but he wasn’t going to trade for them. The sellers would probably demand something outrageous like some of his armor and he was definitely not giving that away. He wondered if Karl found anything interesting as of late. They hadn’t visited him in a while and it would be nice to see him. Karl was sort of their consultant on anything regarding the Ancients. Unlike the two of them, he could read the Old Script which was one of the reasons why they met him. They may have accidentally broken into the library he used as a base. It wasn’t their fault! He’d just moved into the area and sometimes libraries had valuable stuff! How were they supposed to know? Either way, after he found them part way through the window they immediately hit it off. 

Walking out of the house, he inhaled deeply. The fresh scent of the grass and dew pervaded his senses and he couldn’t help but smile. Striding alongside his friend, he mused, “What do you think Karl’s doing now?” 

“Probably decoding some book in his collection like always,” he answered. 

“Haha yeah,” he said, “he never has to go out and scavenge, doesn’t he? All he does is translate some book or read something for them and then he just gets paid.”

Even from all the way out here, they could see the tall gleaming skyscrapers in the distance. Karl lived a lot closer to the city than they did since it was much more convenient for him. People could find him easier that way and living closer to the ruins of the city. Broken as they were, it still looked beautiful in the early light. Like strange trees they reached for the sky, their glass and metal spires stretching overhead. From so far out, it was easy to forget that the gleaming glass windows were most likely cracked and caked in dirt from how long they’d been abandoned. By now, he could see the edges of the city as he and George walked along. They passed more abandoned houses as they came up onto the cracked asphalt of the old road. Karl’s base was only about a half an hour’s walk from the outskirts of the city that was northeast from their base. It wasn’t a big city, but it sure felt like one. So many houses together, even though they rarely went deeper into the city. Even though the respawn point was in the center of the city, they didn’t go there often. The fallout from the war tended to be concentrated around the cities so nastier things spawned the further you went in. Living on the outskirts was honestly the best place for them.

After they’d walked for a considerable amount of time along the road they took a few turns onto some smaller streets until they got to Karl’s library. It had definitely seen better days. The outside had peeling paint and boarded up windows like usual, but strangely enough there were scorch marks around some of the windows and a few portions of the wall looked significantly worse. He commented, “Was there that much of the brick showing last time? Or am I imagining the large swathes of brick that weren't there before?”

“A lot more paint has definitely come off.” his companion replied, “I wonder what happened.”

Knocking on the door loudly, he called out, “Karl, it's Sapnap and George. And no, we aren’t at the back door. We can’t even get back there over the fence so stop checking.”

There was some rattling from the large oaken doors before they swung open. Karl Jacobs stood there, ushering them in and looking a little out of breath. He wore his typical hoodie, which was a mishmash of bright colors. It was an apparently very comfy frankenstein creation from the various sweaters he found in the lost and found box of the library. It was very distinctive and made him really easy to identify. The brunette beamed, his brown eyes crinkling at the corners as he exclaimed, “Hey guys! It’s so nice to see you again!” He scrambled to clear some of the seats and desks that were piled high with books. “Sorry that it’s a little messy right now! Sam stopped by recently to drop off some books he found in the bigger city to the west and I haven’t had time to put them away yet.”

“Don’t worry, our base is so much messier, you don’t have to clean up just for us,” George said, “What’ve you been up to anyways?”

“I’ve actually been quite busy actually! I’ve been looking into the magic section of the library recently and there’s so much cool stuff!” 

They followed him through the massive shelves towards the back section behind the large curved desk. Sapnap assumed the large sign said “magic” or something along those lines. The Old Script sat elegantly on the sign and curled a little around the edges. Picking their way between the stacks of books, the trio made it over to the little nook that Karl had turned into his study. He’d pushed the rectangular tables together to make a sort of mega-desk so that he could sprawl all of his notes and books on it. The wall behind him was where a corkboard had been conveniently placed and little notes were secured on it with pushpins. 

“They have all of these books on potions and stuff! I don’t really have the hang of it though. I may have had a few accidents but I’m working on it! I’ve been trying to make splash potions like they used to but I need to read up more on the principles of brewing before I can make anything usable.”

“Ha!” he exclaimed, “So I wasn’t imagining things! Your base _does_ look worse than before!”

“It doesn’t look that bad! And I mean how was I supposed to know that it said _gunpowder_ not _gold powder_. They look really similar in Old Script!”

His friend laughed, “ _Gold_ _powder_ did that much damage? It looks like you tried to torch part of the front wall.” 

“Nobody told me that it would cause the potion to literally burn! I’m just glad I tested it on the ground before trying it on anything alive!”

Peering down at the collection of books that were laid out on the tables he noticed most of them were covered with rows upon rows of Old Script. The prim lines of writing marched along the page and he couldn’t imagine how Karl managed to decipher them. Odd diagrams and sketches looked mildly interesting but they didn’t really catch his eye. One book all the way by the edge did pique his interest though. Unlike the others, it was covered in detailed illustrations and the pages had elegant, looping borders. Stylized depictions of flames licked the robes of a figure draped in blood red. 

“Hey Karl,” he mused, “what’s this one about?”

Brown eyes scanned the pages that he was pointing to. “Oh that ones a really cool one,” he commented, picking up the big book, “it’s about the Old Gods. Apparently the Ancients believed that there were these beings made entirely of magic.” He flipped through a few of the pages until they came to a page with a figure surrounded by people. Various flowers and dishes were laid out at their feet while pale beams of light radiated from the floating green robed figure. He continued, “Apparently they are usually associated with certain things, like love or plants, and so people leave them offerings if they wanted the gods to help them with something.”

George had come over to look over the other brunette’s shoulder and asked, “Why don’t we see any of these Old Gods then?"

"I dunno, I'm still researching that." he explained, “There’s a lot of magic terms that I can’t find in the dictionaries I have so right now I’m looking for something to help me read it.”

Putting the book down and scribbling a little note in one of the margins he asked, “So what are you here for anyways?”

“Oh yeah,” Sapnap fished out the folded up paper from his pocket, “we found this map and we were hoping you could read it for us.”

“Wow, this is really old,” Karl said as he unfolded the paper, “Where’d you find this?”

The bespectacled brunette piped up, “It was in the trunk of an old old car we found. We were wondering if you could help us find whatever that big X is.”

“Well,” he pointed at the line marked in red, “this is the road into the city, the big one you usually take to get here,” following the line with his finger, he came to a large red dot, “This says ‘Statuary/Idol Hill’ but I don’t really know what that is,”

Thinking for a moment, Sapnap exclaimed, “Oh! Do you think it means the statue city down south?”

“Statue city?”

“Me and Sapnap found this weird town when we were exploring this one time. It didn’t really have anything useful but it had all of these statues everywhere. Evidently they used to be well taken care of before the war but now it’s abandoned like everything else.”

“Hmm,” he nodded, “well then whatever that’s at this big X is just a forty minute walk northeast from the statue city.”

“Wow,” he exclaimed, “that’s a lot closer to our base than I thought! This’ll be easy!”

* * *

  
  
  


They’d been searching for three hours and there was still no sign of any kind of building at all. Just rolling hills and the occasional wildflower that dotted the landscape. He’d had high hopes when they’d woken up bright and early but so far they’d found nothing! He was beginning to wonder if it was worth going through all the effort to find whatever it was that was supposed to be here. 

“You see anything with those goggles of yours, George?”

“Still nothing.”

“I swear if there’s nothing here I’m going to be so—” his sentence was cut off as he let out an embarrassingly high pitched squeal when the ground gave way from beneath him. 

“Aw man that _hurt_.” he groaned, sitting up and rubbing his sore behind. It looked like he’d fallen straight into some underground compound of some sort. The walls were made of stone bricks, meaning that he hadn’t just fallen into some old cave. It was definitely some kind of manmade structure. He could hear George calling his name from the hole he slid down. It looked like there might’ve been stairs in the past but now they’d been covered with dirt and grass. He just happened to be the lucky person to fall down and discover the place. Cupping his hands around his mouth he yelled, “George, I’m over here!”

Soon a pair of goggles popped into his vision. “How’d you get all the way down there?”

“That doesn’t matter, just get down here.” he said motioning for him to come down the little dirt slide.

He didn’t wait to see him come all the way down and brought out his torch so that he could see in the dark. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t infested with the undead like some of the other caves and underground structures they’d found. Usually they’d find at least some way in and it often made mining a huge hassle. It was a lot easier to just scavenge for stuff on the surface and then trade it for the various useful minerals and whatnot. Mining was dangerous business and not really worth the possibility of finding some coal or a little bit of iron. 

They appeared to be in some sort of passageway and his friend took out his torch as the duo began to make their way deeper into the stone compound. Brushing cobwebs out of their way, he couldn’t help but gasp as they reached the end of the corridor. It opened up into a gigantic hall with towering pillars draped in frayed emerald banners. They held up a massive glass roof which was now covered in soil and grass. Despite this, he could still see a few stray beams of light filtering through and turning the dust motes gold. Somehow the place still maintained an air of majesty even when in such a state of disrepair. 

“It doesn’t look like anyone’s been here for _eons_ ,” George marvelled, “and I mean the place is _huge!_ We might even need a second trip to explore it all!” 

The two of them shared excited grins before splitting up and poking around the place. While there weren’t many chests in the main room that they’d entered into, there was certainly plenty to look at. All along the walls were beautifully embroidered tapestries depicting smoke and dragons with shimmering black scales and silver horns. What fascinated them the most though, was the statue that stood at the end of the hall. Delicate wires and filigree swirled around a tall pole that was almost as tall as Sapnap was. It supported a pale white disk that was surrounded with a gleaming halo of golden rays of light. The silver and gold could probably get him a whole new set of armor, but he was reluctant to take it. It didn’t seem right and he couldn’t shake the feeling that the statue was _looking at him_ , strangely enough. It didn’t even have _eyes_. How could it look at him? Shaking off the feeling of being watched, he inspected the plates laid around the statue. They looked to be in good condition and coated in dust. He wasn’t an expert but they looked like they were valuable. Maybe even made of silver. Stacking them haphazardly he shoved them in his bag. He was tempted to take the plaque too but he didn’t know what it said so he decided not to. At least he could take the plates even if he didn’t feel comfortable trying to loot the statue.

The brunette had gone off into the room to the left and he could hear him rummaging around. Checking the room to the right, there didn’t seem to be anything important. A few sparse beds, some musty candles and some weird books in the drawers. Nothing useful. Did people live here? They must’ve been pretty boring if they didn’t even have their own rooms. For a building that was so grand, it didn’t make sense for them to live stuffed together in one room. It was almost as if the building wasn’t for them. It didn’t make any sense. 

Peeking into the room George was in, he asked, “Find anything interesting?” Looking up from the chest he’d opened, he responded, “Yeah, enough gold to fill our whole base. This is the weirdest storage room I’ve ever seen. Not a single one of these chests or cabinets has food. Not a single one! They’re all filled with all kinds of gold from necklaces to solid bars! Whoever lived here must’ve been _stacked_.”

“That’s odd,” he muttered, “I found what I think was the living quarters and they were practically bare! In any other place I’d assume the place had already been looted. There was literally nothing in the drawers except some books. The mattresses we have back at our base are better than the ones I found! Not only that, there’s like eight beds all shoved into one room! You’d think they’d make use of all their space in such a big building.”

“Really?” his friend said, “This place just gets weirder and weirder! Past the storage room there’s a library, but we can’t read so that’s pretty much useless.” Since they couldn’t carry all the gold with them, they both pocketed a few pieces before leaving the room. Now all that was left was the heavy set of double doors that stood behind the statue. The huge marble doors were intricately carved with coiling dragons, two of which made the handles. They were the largest dragons and they curled about the edges of the door before culminating in fearsome snarls. Their fangs gleamed in the light and their jaws framed the door handles which were made to look like golden tongues. They were carved so that it looked like they were ready to sink their wicked teeth into whoever grabbed the door. Sapnap decided that he didn’t like the design very much. They were too flashy and it had nothing to do with the fact that they made him uneasy. 

Looking over at his companion, he said, “Well, it looks like this is the last room to explore.”

“Yeah,” he said, albeit apprehensively, “I guess we gotta check it out. It wouldn’t make sense for us to leave without looking at everything.”

Swallowing, he tried to ignore the nervous lump in his throat. The longer they stayed in here, the stronger the ominous feeling in his gut got. He was tempted to just leave but his curiosity got the better of him. Nodding at his friend, he grasped one of the handles and pulled the door open with all of his might. As they swung open slowly, he couldn’t help but think about how impractical they were. They had to be solid marble with how heavy they were! Who in their right mind would make doors out of _stone_? They’d take forever to open! He couldn’t even imagine the thought process behind having such overly opulent doors and such a lavish hall but an absolutely barren living space. The people who used to live here must’ve been crazy or something. 

Finally he and George managed to open the giant doors wide enough for both of them to walk in side by side. Unlike the other rooms they’d seen, this one actually matched the main hall. A series of green silks hung from the ceiling like gauzy artificial vines, highlighting the altar in the center of the round room. It was beautiful, covered in gold tendrils of ivy and illuminated by some hidden opening that let in the sunlight. The stone dais felt incomplete though. The intricately decorated altar, even with its golden detailing, didn’t seem quite right. Something was missing. Something should’ve been on the pedestal. 

“Something should be here. I don’t know why I know, but it just feels like something should’ve been on this pedestal here.”

“Yeah, but what though? Maybe we should try looking around the room?”

Nodding absentmindedly, he began scouring the room for whatever belonged on the altar. He tried putting one of the gold bars but it still didn’t look right. George tried the candelabra he took from the storage room and it didn’t seem right either. Exactly three necklaces and four different gold statues later, they still hadn’t found the right object. Both of them felt reluctant to leave before they found what they were looking for. It was just frustrating searching for something when you didn’t know exactly what you were trying to find. 

Sapnap was gazing intently at the altar when his friend called out, “Hey look what I found!” Snapping out of his thoughts, he turned to see what George had found. In his hands was a pale white porcelain mask, reminiscent of the white disk on the statue in the hall. Unlike the disk though, it had a simple smiley face drawn in it in dark black ink. 

“That mask is definitely magical. It practically oozes ‘weird magical item’ vibes.” he stated.

The two of them shared a look and came to the same conclusion. Whatever this was, it was definitely what was supposed to be on the altar. Nothing else that they’d found had thrummed with magic like the mask did. 

The two of them each grasped one side of the mask and gently placed it on the altar. At that very moment, it was like a spell had been lifted. The satisfaction of finally finding the right object gave way to abject horror as glowing sigils began to appear on the green silks that surrounded them. One by one, starting from the left side of the room, glowing purple symbols appeared on the viridian silk, faster and faster and faster, until they were surrounded by the crackling of magic. Falling back, he gasped as the pale white mask began to rise, shaking violently, green smoke coalescing from places unknown. It churned and swirled into what almost resembled a floating figure. It was disconcerting to see the black dots he assumed were its eyes peering back at them. The permanent smile only served to make him more uncomfortable. He shot a glance over at George, who was wearing the same slack jawed look of horror that he was probably wearing. They sat in silence with the creature gazing at them for a few moments before it spoke up.

“You don’t look like priests,” the eerie white mask tilted to the side, reminiscent of a really creepy, bald puppy, “How did you two get into the inner sanctum?” 

He almost couldn’t focus on the words that were being spoken due to the way his voice _felt_ . It was deeply discomforting and Sapnap couldn’t help but shiver. It was like someone reached into him and ran their fingernails along his bones. He wanted so badly to cover his ears and just curl up into a ball. He _hated_ it. The deep masculine timbre of his voice somehow managed to make him feel both violated and incredibly insignificant. 

It took both of them a moment to realize that he was waiting for an answer. It was hard not to just go into a state of shock after the floating mask _spoke_. He barely managed to squeak out a timid, “W-what?”

“The inner sanctum. This room.” the mask repeated, its voice sounding like it was coming from everywhere but nowhere at once, “Usually only priests and priestesses are allowed into the summoning room. How did you get in? I thought they were supposed to protect the inner sanctum at least.”

It leaned down to get a closer look at them, and he couldn’t help but flinch. “W-we just found it on a-accident,” George stammered, “nobody’s b-been in here for a w-while.”

“You’re saying you summoned me by accident?” it (he? Was it a he? It sounded like a he) looked down at the gold that was strewn about the base of the altar, “I guess that’d explain why these offerings look familiar. And why there’s so little.”

Feeling a little bolder, he asked, “W-who, or well, _what_ are you?”

Turning to look at him with those blank black dots, he answered, “I’m a god of course.”

His hammering heart practically stopped right then and there, and he could hear George choke on his own spit beside him. The floating mask—no, _god_ —seemed to be oblivious to their mounting panic. 

“Well, I guess I’ll hang out here for a bit. It’s been a while since I’ve manifested on the human realm.” he floated down from the pedestal and turned to look at the two of them, “Where do you two live?”

All shock and fear disappeared at that. Spluttering indignantly, he snapped back reflexively, “Woah, woah, woah, what gives you the right to just move in like that! Just ‘cuz you’re some magic floating mask doesn’t mean you get to boss us around!”

“Goddamnit Sapnap,” he groaned, facepalming, “of course the first thing you do is diss the _literal god_.”

His rebuttal was interrupted by an odd whistling noise that came from the mask as it bobbed strangely. The two of them turned to look at the god. Strangely enough, the mask had changed slightly. The eyes were now little curved lines instead of black soulless dots and he got the distinct feeling that he was being laughed at. Was that what gods sounded like when they laughed? He supposed they couldn’t laugh like everyone else, being all powerful beings and whatnot. It was just weird to think that it meant sounding like a teakettle when laughing. After laughing at them for a little while longer, it seemed as if he finally got a hold of himself and the “eyes” opened again. 

“You two are funny,” he wheezed, “and I’m not just a weird mask. I can look like you too!”

All the sudden, it was like the world itself was shifting. Purple particles winked in and out of existence and it was like the world was warping around him. The world itself felt his power and it bowed to his every whim.

It was honestly really odd to see something literally transform before his eyes. It was disorienting, seeing nothing become something. He watched as tall, black boots began to emerge from the smoke. Expensive black leather and more of the figure began to emerge from the smoke. There were gold plated knee pads on the boots and dark green pants were tucked into them. As the smoke kept receding, more was revealed. A sturdy looking brown belt cinched the pants around his middle with large loops to hook on tools or weapons. Olive green fabric made up a shirt which lay under strips of green and gold, which mirrored the banners in the hall. Flowing olive green sleeves were topped off with a short emerald green cloak which covered down to his elbows. Last but not least, gold plated shoulder pads and an amethyst brooch decorated his short cloak along with a wreath of laurels that rested on the hood.

While he did look considerably more humanoid, he didn’t look quite right. His pale hands, which were covered in rings of silver and gold, were as white as the porcelain of his mask. Even though it was consistent, it did make him look unnervingly similar to a corpse. Then again, this was definitely an improvement from an amorphous talking cloud of smoke.

“Better, right?” he asked. Strangely enough, his voice didn’t grate on him as much as it did before. Maybe it was because he wasn’t just smoke anymore but he sounded significantly less unnerving. The innate wrongness of his voice was less pronounced and if he closed his eyes he could almost pretend he was talking to another human being. Almost. 

“Uh…” George looked like he wanted to say something but he evidently decided against it because all he said was, “you look mostly human, I guess.”

“You definitely look better than you did earlier,” he chimed in.

Apparently that was enough, since the god placed his hands on his hips and announced, “Good. Now let’s get going, because I’m definitely not staying here if it’s abandoned.”

He thought he heard his friend mutter something under his breath but he couldn’t catch it. It was probably something along the lines of “how did I even get into this mess” knowing him. Realizing that the room was a lot darker than it was a couple moments before, he jumped to his feet. Getting home would be such a pain if they had to travel in the dark!

His companion seemed to realize the same thing, because he stood up suddenly and cursed, “Crap, it’s already starting to get dark.” The white mask tilted a little, as if the god was about to ask another question, but he remained silent as he followed them out of the room. The two of them scurried through the hall and dark corridor until they made it to the little dirt tunnel. He heard a voice behind him muse, “I remember there being stairs here.” Ignoring it, he scrambled out without noticing that the green cloaked god had already gotten outside somehow. To both of their dismay, the sun was scarily close to setting and they could almost hear the crackling of monsters spawning. 

“Oh my god, we’re going to have to run home at this rate,” he groaned. 

“Ugh,” George groaned, “I didn’t even think to bring any weapons because I thought we were just going to be exploring!”

Turning to the green figure beside him, he said, “Okay, so we’re just going to run all the way back and hope that we don’t get shot by some skeleton. I have no idea if you can get hurt, but just try and stick close, uh, what should I call you?”

“Dream,” the mask bobbed a little, as if he was nodding, “you can just call me Dream.”


	2. Silver Roots Dig Deep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lasting bonds are formed from growing tendrils of molten silver.

They barely managed to get back to the farmhouse before the sun set. He and Sapnap were practically out of breath as they hurriedly rushed into the basement and locked the door behind him amid the groans of zombies. Both of them let out a sigh of relief as the lock clicked into place. George could hear the loud stomping of the undead as they tramped into the house to look for them. The stupid things never were smart enough to look around anyways. Any good hiding spot would deter them if you were just patient enough to wait until morning. They were lucky to make it out unscathed, honestly. Flopping down on the floor, he finally let himself relax. He was back home, and home was safe. Cozy. Warm.   
It took him a moment to realize that Dream was still there and he practically jumped out of his skin when he saw the pale mask in the torchlight causing him to sit up abruptly. The god looked incredibly out of place in their little hidey-hole. The opulence that his outfit exuded clashed horribly with the haphazardly arranged shelves and scavenged scraps of their hideout. His clothes alone looked like they were worth more than all of the fabric on their threadbare mattresses. And that was some of the most valuable stuff they had! Crossing his legs, he pulled the bag into his lap. Taking off his goggles he let out a sigh, “We’re lucky we got back in time, because if you got shot I’d probably be too tired to pull it out like last time.”

“I wouldn’t want you to anyway!” Sapnap said jokingly, “Somehow it hurts twice as much whenever you pull it out! I mean we didn’t get shot, and we got some nice loot! I’d say this trip was a win!”

“Loot?”

The two of them turned to look at Dream, who’d been quiet for the entire run home. He didn’t look tired at all, which made sense he supposed. It wasn’t really noticeable when they were running for their lives, of course, but now the silence was eerie. You never really notice other people’s breathing even though you hear it all the time. Really, the absence of it is what you notice. Dream’s chest still rose and fell like there was supposed to be some kind of breathing going on, but there was none. It was just odd silence. It was almost as if the movement was just to give the illusion of life when in reality there was something completely different under his skin.   
“Uhh…” he nervously stalled as he tried to think of a way to tell him that they were literally stealing from his temple before they accidentally summoned him. His friend shifted nervously from one foot to another. 

“We may have ‘borrowed’ some stuff inside your temple,” Sapnap started, “but only because we thought it was abandoned! And we didn’t know it was a temple!”

“So that’s why you were there,” the masked figure turned, surveying the basement, “I don’t mind. It looks like you needed it anyway.”

“Hey!” George protested, “Our base looks great! We even have actual beds!” It took forever to take those mattresses down here and organize the place! He wasn’t going to stand for this slander!

“Well then society has changed a lot since I was last here if a bare mattress is the height of luxury,” the god muttered, “and he said I live like a homeless person.”

“Mattresses are hard to come by, alright!” his friend commented, “And when was the last time you were here anyways? Surely you’ve at least heard about the war before you went off and did whatever god thing you do.”

“The War? What’d he do this time?” Dream asked, “Last time I visited a lot of the more powerful gods decided to take a step back. What happened?”

He shared a look with his companion. It was strange to even consider that there was once a time where the war hadn’t happened yet. He almost felt as if the buildings had been crumbling forever. Of course he’d heard the stories and seen the photos but he’d never thought about the ramifications of it. He couldn’t even imagine the amount of people it would take to fill up all of the buildings in the city. He didn’t know a lot about how the cities fell so he just repeated the basics. 

“Well, a long while ago there was this big war and almost everyone died I think,” he ran a hand through his hair, trying to scour his mind for anything else he could remember about it, “The cities are abandoned because for some reason monsters began spawning so most people can’t live there.”

“That explains the hordes of undead,” one pale hand came up to stroke the bottom of his mask, as if he had a beard or stubble, “I would’ve thought that without our help they would’ve done less damage, but evidently I was wrong. If they’ve used enough magic to react wi—”   
At this point, Sapnap decided to tap out, groaning, “More magic stuff? I’m too tired for this. I’m going to bed.” He couldn’t help but agree as his friend fell into bed with a whump as he made contact with the mattress.   
Dream, though, was still standing a little awkwardly in the middle of the room. Despite the whole situation, he couldn’t help but feel bad. “Uh, Dream?” he asked, “Do you sleep or…?”

The porcelain mask shook from left to right as if he was shaking his head. “As a god, I don’t sleep.”

“Uh, alright then,” he responded uneasily. Was he just going to stand there and stare as they went to sleep? The unblinking eyes were sort of unsettling but it was undermined by the overlying awkwardness. He was starting to wonder how long it had been since the god last had any kind of social interaction.  
Putting his goggles in their usual spot beside the bed, he turned and said, “Well you can sit in the chair over there I guess. Uh, goodnight?” He didn’t even wait for an answer and went straight to bed, trying very hard to ignore the fact that there was a literal god in their base. A visit to Karl was definitely in order. He was the only one they knew anything about the Ancients or their gods.

* * *

George was unwillingly dragged back to the waking world by his companion the very next morning. He’d been having a delightful dream, really. They’d come back to base from trading and were lucky enough to get a cake, like the ones his mother used to get him on special occasions. He practically salivated at the sight of the fluffy cake and light frosting. Just when he was about to take the first bite though, he jerked as he suddenly heard “GEORRGEEE” being screamed in his ear.   
Trying fruitlessly to grasp his dream again, he pulled his pillow over his head. By then his wonderful pastry was nothing more than sleepy half-thoughts that slipped through his fingers. He wasn’t going to be able to go to sleep after that. Stupid Sapnap was nagging at himi to get up again. “Whaaat,” he groaned, “just let me sleep in.” It wasn’t like they had to wake up early to go anywhere. He deserved to sleep in after waking up early yesterday!

“C’mon we gotta go trade the gold or at least tell Karl what we found!” his friend said, shaking him awake, “And if it was up to you we’d end up sleeping the whole day away!”

“Ugh, can’t that wait ‘til later?” he grumbled, sleepily batting away the hands that were currently trying to drag him out of bed. 

“You’ve been literally sleeping for like eight hours, isn’t that enough?” he heard an unfamiliar voice mutter. 

Right then he sat up so fast that he nearly headbutted Sapnap. Ignoring the little startled noise, he looked over to see a green figure with a white mask. Rubbing his eyes, he took another look. The figure was still there.   
He’d forgotten entirely about the new addition to their motley crew and it was startling to see a third person inside of their base. Especially someone as odd looking as Dream. 

“You humans always take so long to sleep,” the aforementioned individual mentioned, “while you two were sleeping I had time to check out your entire base and still you guys were sleeping.”

“Well sorry for being human,” he scoffed. Reluctantly getting up, he picked up his trademark goggles from his bedside. Taking a moment to stretch he said, “I guess we’ll have to spend the next few days running errands.”

“Errands?” his friend uttered with a laugh, “You make visiting Karl and going on a shopping spree with the gold sound like a chore! I know you’re looking forward to this as much as I am!”

The Dream piped up, “Fixing up this house should definitely be on that list of chores though.”

He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the god’s adamance on fixing up the old house. There was no need to anyway. The basement alone worked just fine. Everything they had could fit in the underground room but he couldn’t deny how much better it would be if they could use the whole house. There’d be so much more space. The only real issue was all the work that’d have to go into spawnproofing the house. It wasn’t really a two person job and both of them were too lazy anyways. He supposed that now it might be possible with a literal god on their side but he didn’t really know. What powers did Dream even have?  
He was taken out of his thoughts as they started to go over the things they would need to do in the next few days. As he slowly got out of bed and stretched, Sapnap had already pulled out a notebook and pencil and had started writing down a little to-do list. 

“So obviously we’re gonna go to the city to spend some of this gold.” his friend said, scribbling it down onto the page.

“And fix up the house.” the hooded figure chimed in from his corner.

Messing with his goggles, he mentioned, “We should probably stop by Karl’s again too. He’s definitely going to want to meet Dream since he’s been studying the Old Gods.”

“What?” the god wheezed, “That’s what you’re calling us now? I look younger than your house!”

“Okay, okay, you don’t have to rub it in,” he muttered. 

“Fixing up the farmhouse.” the other read aloud, writing it down in the notebook, “Anything else?”

“Hmm, I don’t think so..”

“Well what’re we waiting for then!” Sapnap exclaimed, snapping the book shut, “At this point we have more potions than we have food! With the gold we have we could probably buy food and that armor I wanted!”

* * *

And so their first stop was the market. It was furthest away from their old farmhouse, so they decided to go there while it was still early and if they needed to they could stay at Karl’s because it was closer to the city. The market was an old building that served as a trading hub deep in the city. It was actually quite close to the respawn point and it was a 10 minute walk to the market from there.   
It took a few hours to get from home to the market and they made sure to only pack the gold and silver they’d gotten from the temple so that their bags weren’t too weighty. Nothing sucked more than walking for hours over rolling hills with a heavy weight on your shoulders. Luckily they didn’t need to take too much since all of the items were practically invaluable. When they’d spread out their loot in the base to see how much they had to work with, George was astounded with what they’d been able to collect. Sapnap had nicked five solid silver platters, a golden candelabra, one gold chain, and an odd gold statue. Laying their newfound riches somehow made the situation feel so much more real. In their current condition, they could make a fortune off of these! And that wasn’t even including the stuff he found! Taking out his satchel, he produced a gold bar, three thick gold bracelets, two rings that looked pretty valuable and a long presumably ceremonial gold staff that he found in a fancy case. It was more than enough to get them food and new gear.   
While Dream did make some comments about the stuff they took, mainly regarding their excitement over such a meagre amount of wealth, he was relatively quiet after they started their trek towards the city. He suspected it had something to do with the shock that probably came from waking up in an entirely different world. To see the same buildings and streets except almost entirely empty and run down must be pretty odd. George knew he’d be in a state of shock if one day he just woke up and found the cities bustling with people. As they finally reached a paved road, he decided to break the awkward silence.

“So, it must be pretty weird seeing the city all broken up and stuff.”

The white mask that served as his face turned towards him. He seemed to think for a moment before answering, “It’s certainly different, but I wouldn’t say it’s bad.”

“Didn’t it look better when it wasn’t wrecked though?” Sapnap asked. 

The pale hands tugged on the edge of his green hood slightly, which he was beginning to think was some kind of nervous habit. “Eh, I guess. I’ve never really been interested in architecture.”

The three of them ended up leaving it at that. He was a little worried that if he kept asking about the past he might uncover a touchy subject. To be honest, he was a little wary of the god. He wasn’t about to upset the green-clad being and get smited or something. Who knew what tragic backstory he was hiding if he’d been around since forever.   
After what felt like years, the three of them arrived at the tall building that served as the trading hub for most people in the area. It used to be a place for travelers before the war and so there were plenty of rooms in the upper floors for any traveling traders or artisans to stay in. The market itself wasn’t above ground though. Unlike most places it was entirely underground inside of the huge cement structure that lay underneath. It was a cavernous room that spread over the entire floor with a few faded lines on the ground. There was where merchants of all kinds would set up their tables and tents to sell their wares. Some tents were always there while others were only there for a week or so before their proprietor moved to another city to try and sell their wares. As they approached the building itself, Dream spoke up. 

“Uh.. guys I think this a hotel, not a market.”

His friend gave the god a weird look, “No, this is definitely the market, Dream. It’s not outside because then it’d be crawling with monsters. It’s underground.”

“Didn’t you say that they spawned in the dark though? Making it underground sounds a little counterintuitive.”

George explained, “I think there’s a mechanic that stays in one of the upper rooms that figured out how to get the lights working in the market so that’s why we have it there.”

Their new companion gave a little hum of acknowledgement and followed them as they descended the stairwell down into the bustling market.   
What always struck him about the market was the smell. It didn’t smell bad, per se. There was just a lot. The faint scent of machine oil and baking bread from a food tent somewhere or the whiff of curing leather. It was just so much in one place. As a child he loved exploring all the odds and ends of the market. You could find almost anything here between the lines of tents and ragged carpets strewn with fascinating objects. 

Grasping the strap of his satchel a little tighter, he stated, “We should probably go to the food tent first. We don’t want to forget to buy food, and I’m a little hungry anyways.” 

“Good idea. I’m definitely ready to have a piece of whatever’s baking right now” Sapnap said after taking a deep breath of the various scents of the market.   
The food tents were always together to the right of the entrance. They didn’t move a lot due to the fact that they always had customers. Everyone needed food and so they always had business and rarely ever left an area. Making a right turn, he weaved through the crowd to get towards the food tents. Narrowly avoiding a tall blond boy with an armful of bread, he finally made it to the food tent that they usually bought from. 

“Hello Alyssa!” he greeted, “What do you have today?”

The blond turned around to see who it was and smiled when she saw that it was Sapnap and George. “Hey! It’s been a while!” she exclaimed, “Are you doing well? Who’s your new friend?”

“It’s nice to see you too! We’ve been doing pretty well actually!” Sapnap grinned, “And this is Dream! We met him recently.” 

The god in question shook hands with their merchant friend and gave a stiff nod, “Nice to meet you.” 

“You’re pretty lucky today! I just baked some cookies and I’ve got a lot of jerky and dried fish.” she rummaged through her chests, “There should be enough to tide you over for the next month or so.” Her hands finally emerged from the chest with several bags. Clapping her hands together, she exclaimed, “So, what do you guys have this time?”

Pulling out the thick gold bracelets he asked, “Will these be enough?”

Taking the gold pieces to examine them, she gasped, “Are these pure gold? Where did you even manage to find these?”

“We just happened to find them in our explorations,” his friend said, with a hint of pride in his voice, “Try biting them. They’re pure gold.”

“Woah,” she responded, “what a lucky find! These are definitely enough to pay for the fish and jerky. Speaking of which, do you want some of the cookies?”

“Yes please.” George exclaimed with a grin, “It took ages to get here and we forgot to eat breakfast.” She laughed a little before pulling out a bag and handing each of them two, which he and Sapnap promptly scarfed down. Chocolate chip cookies were heavenly and he couldn’t help but feel sad after they were all gone.   
By then though, Alyssa had pulled out two more cookies for Dream and was holding them out to him expectantly. He didn’t seem to notice it at first until she coughed a little and motioned for him to take them.

His eyes widened in surprise, causing the black dots to become round black circles on his face. He looked behind himself as if looking for someone else that she could possibly be offering the cookies to, but found no one. Again, the pale hand came to tug on his green hood. “Uhhh, It’s okay I don’t really—” he started before he was cut off as Sapnap elbowed him. 

“Just take them.” he whispered, “They’re really good.”

Dream looked at the two of them questioningly but was met with encouraging nods. Finally, he carefully took the pastries from Alyssa’s hand. Unfortunately though, the awkward moment was far from over. Their blond friend smiled kindly, “Don’t be afraid! Try them, they’re really good!”

By now Dream looked more awkward than he’d ever seen him. After an awkward pause, he lifted up the bottom of his mask slightly before slipping the cookies underneath. “Uh, mMmmMmm,” he stated with an exaggerated tone, “delicious. Yum. Very good.”  
Once they’d said their goodbyes, packed away their food and left, he turned to shoot a glare at Dream. They’d walked a ways away from Alyssa’s tent when he shouted, “What was that for!”

“Yeah Dream, she just wanted to share her cookies! You can’t just go ‘Uh sorry I don’t really wanna try them’, and besides they’re really good! You should’ve at least tried them first.” his friend argued.

All the while, the god walked stiffly beside them as they berated him for his rude behavior towards their friend. 

He explained exasperatedly, “She was just trying to be nice! They aren’t poisoned or anything.”

“Guys,” the god finally piped up, “I wasn’t trying to be rude.”

“Then why didn’t you want the cookies?” he asked with confusion.

“I can’t eat.” Dream answered, “I’m a god! I don’t eat unless I’m either dying or if it’s one of my aspects.”

Sapnap lurched to a halt as the two of them stopped to look at the god. “Hold up, we literally just saw you eat them though. You put them in your mouth.” he explained, repeating the motions that the god did when he took the cookies. 

Without replying, he used his pale hands to lift up his mask all the way. Underneath the mask was nothing. There wasn’t even a head. Just a pale neck stump with two chocolate chip cookies carefully balanced on the smooth, purple surface of the neck. It was odd that his neck stump looked like a tree stump, except if the bark was entirely white and the wood itself was a weird magenta. There were what even looked like tree rings.   
In any other situation, George probably would’ve been horrified to see that the god had no head. The problem was that so many strange things had already happened that it didn’t really bother him anymore. Right now, all he could focus on were the two innocent little cookies that were balancing precariously on what was a veritable eldritch horror. And so he did the only thing he could. He bent over practically guffawed at the hilarious sight. He, he really just hid the cookies underneath his face? Out of all the places he could’ve put the cookies he just decided to balance them on his neck stump.

Still laughing he cried, “You really got me! I really thought you ate them!” He couldn’t help but fall over in another fit of cackles as Dream turned the hand holding his face in order to send him a pointed glare. This only caused both him and Sapnap to fall over in another fit of giggles.

“Ha, ha. Very funny.” the god muttered before placing his mask back in place and grabbing the cookies. “Let’s get on with it.” he continued, striding off. 

“Wait, you don’t even know where you’re going!” he called out after the god.

Similarly, Sapnap scrambled after him, yelling, “Hey if you can’t eat them I’ll gladly have them!”

After they finally caught up with the god, they decided that they should probably get some armor. His friend had been eying a certain set of metal shin guards and a cool dagger for a while and now they finally could afford it. Besides the cookie incident, the rest of the shopping trip was relatively uneventful. Two silver platters and the candelabra were enough to get the shin guards, dagger and a new shovel. Later the one of the rings was traded off to get himself a nice new pair of boots since the soles of his current ones were getting worn out. He was really tempted to buy a cake but Dream had insisted they use the gold staff and remaining ring to get some materials to renovate the farmhouse. In the end, the only loot left was the singular gold bar which they decided to save. Of course the god didn’t understand the importance of saving, he had a literal underground temple filled with gold. Overall it was a good haul and they were even able to see some old friends, so George was pretty pleased. And so the three of them ended up walking towards Karl’s base with three bags of food, a claw hammer, nails paint and some other home renovation supplies.   
By the time the trio reached the library, they were exhausted. Did they really have to get paint for the house? George was really beginning to feel like it was unnecessary, and not just because the paint cans were heavy. His back did not hurt and he was not tired from carrying stuff. Not at all. And he wasn’t denying it just because Dream didn’t seem to be having any trouble with the stuff he was carrying.   
At last they came upon the familiar crumbling library that served as their friend’s base. Karl was pleased to see them again but also noticeably confused at their third member and armful of supplies. After ushering them in quickly as the sun began its descent towards the horizon, the brunette turned to look at the odd trio that now stood in his library.

He quickly introduced himself to their new friend, “Hello, I’m Karl. I’m guessing you’re a new friend that they made at the market? I’m pretty sure I’ve never met you before.”

“Uh yeah,” the god responded, “we kinda met for the first time yesterday.”

“Remember the map we had you read?” George was met with a hesitant nod as Karl eyed the stranger that was now in his library, “Well, turns out it was an ancient temple and we might’ve accidentally summoned an Old God…”  
Waving a pale hand, he greeted, “Nice to meet you, Karl. I’m Dream.”

Karl’s eyes practically widened to the size of saucers as he stared at him in shock. “H-He’s a—” he appeared to trip over his words, “a god? How did you even— WHAT?”

“Don’t worry, we have no idea how we did it either.” Sapnap said, patting his friend’s shoulder comfortingly as he continued to gape, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

“Really it’s not that complicated,” Dream explained, “You just put my artifact at a focal point and as a result I manifested.” 

The other three turned to look at the god incredulously. “Huh?” he asked, “What does that even mean, Dream?”

“I dunno. I read it somewhere. Humans write a lot about gods but it’s usually with really weird and specific terminology.” the green clad figure responded with a shrug. 

“You tell me!” their librarian friend groaned, “I’m trying to decipher these books about gods and half of it is gibberish to me!”

“I mean I could help out with that. I probably know more about gods than the books do, but they tend to have at least some good information.” the god said nonchalantly.

Instantly, Karl was off like a rocket. He couldn’t help but smile a little as his friend darted through the bookshelves proclaiming, “I just have a few” he huffed as he tried to balance a few more books in his already worrying pile of books, “questions—” They followed as their friend dropped off the books at his makeshift desk before running off to grab “just one more” and returning with about four thick tomes. Once he finally returned with all of the materials, Karl was practically covered in a light sheen of sweat. His enthusiasm and curiosity was absolutely through the roof if his eyes were any indicator.   
Immediately pulling out the book that they’d seen the last time they visited, he began his barrage of excited questions which Dream answered easily with an air of calm confidence. 

“Are you really made entirely of magic?”

“Yes, in a way. Personally I would call it energy, not magic, but that’s what they tend to call it in the books.”

Flipping quickly through the book the teen muttered, “Hmm, Dream… Which god is that? I think this book has all of them…”

Coming over to peer over his shoulder at the weathered pages, he pointed his unnaturally pale hand at the page, “That’s me right there. Dream, God of Power.” The page was the one they’d seen the other day and it was weird to realize that the emerald green figure in the drawing was now standing right beside them. 

“Power? Is that what that word means?” the brunette muttered, squinting at the book in his hands before continuing, “You are often given gold and kill lizards?”

“Oh he definitely has a lot of gold,” Sapnap responded, “but I didn’t know he had a thing against lizards.”

“I don’t hate lizards,” Dream sighed, “That’s the word for dragon. You know? Big, flying scaly beasts?” He and the two others in the room gave the god a strange look. What was he talking about? That didn’t even sound real! Giant flying lizards? What kind of weird world did he live in? Seeing the lack of understanding in the faces of those around him the god began to explain, “I used to fight them for fun to see how fast I could beat them. They’re kind of recognized as my sacred animal.”

“Hmm,” Karl muttered, taking notes, “you can transform too, right? Like change shape?”

Now George definitely knew the answer to that one. “Yup. When we first met him he was a floating mask.”

Sapnap looked at the god for a second, before mumbling, “Well technically isn’t he still a floating mask? He doesn’t have a head but the mask still stays there.”

“He doesn’t have what?” 

The rest of the night continued in a similar manner. There were just so many questions and so little time. George really hadn’t realized how absolutely crazy it was for Dream to even exist. Of course he knew that the god was powerful but when you described it as “enough energy to give every person on Earth swiftness for five days” it really put it into perspective.   
It was like twenty questions god edition. Karl would ask one or two questions before he or Sapnap jumped in to ask follow up questions or give exclamations of surprise. Apparently, gods were very complicated, contrary to what Dream thought. Easy for him to say! He was the only one with personal experience with gods, since he was one! The whole conversation gave the three humans in the group a lot to think about though. He never realized just how much he didn’t know about the world he lived in. Gods were born from human concepts, according to Dream, and the only reason that nobody ever heard of a glass god or weed god was because they just didn’t have enough energy to turn into a form that was perceivable by humans. In order to become powerful, gods had to be worshipped at least in some capacity in the past or present. To think that there were gods probably being born at this very moment was mind-blowing. Soon enough though, George began to yawn as the exhaustion from their trip began to kick in.   
At this point he was rubbing his eyes as he struggled to stay awake. 

“Alright guys, I’m going to bed.” he yawned, “I’m tired.”

The god turned to look at him, cocking his head in confusion. “Didn’t you just do that yesterday?”

“Dream, we kind of need to sleep every day.” Sapnap explained tiredly.

“Karl doesn’t seem that tired though.”

“Uh, I slept in today,” the brunette admitted bashfully, “I didn’t wake up until mid-afternoon. My sleep schedule is a little screwed up so I’m not really sleepy right now. That’s just because I slept a lot during the day though.”

“Oh.” he said before he was distracted by another question from the brown haired librarian beside him.  
Fortunately for him, Karl usually had a lot of visitors since only a few people in the area could read Old Script. He had a few blankets lying around just in case anyone had to stay the night. Ambling over to the circulation desk, he found some of the blankets and a nice place to sleep. Sitting down and leaning against one of the bookcases, he wrapped himself snugly and went right to sleep. 

* * *

The next morning, he woke up with a slight yawn. The dull ache from the crick in his neck had woken him up and he stretched a little to try to alleviate it. Standing up and rolling his shoulders, he noticed that Sapnap was still sleeping. Well that was a first. His black-haired friend was snoring loudly as he sat, slumped against the wall and wrapped in blankets. He never even knew Sapnap snored. He always fell asleep first, so it was really weird to have to wake him up this time.   
“Hey, Sapnap.” he muttered, poking the sleeping form of his friend. When he didn’t get a response, he cautiously jabbed his cheek with his finger. Still no response. 

Shaking his shoulder he said, “Wake up, Sapnap, the sun’s already up.” 

Finally, the other started awake as his snoring cut off abruptly, nearly falling over. Rubbing his eyes he sleepily grumbled, “Huh? Wha? Why’re you up?” 

Laughing a little at his friend’s confusion, he answered, “Yeah I dunno how I woke up before you did. I guess you were just really tired or something.”

The two of them folded up the blankets and put them back under the circulation desk before going to look for Dream and Karl.  
They decided to check Karl’s desk first since that was where they last saw the librarian. George was pretty sure Karl must’ve gone to sleep by now since the sun was already up. Surprisingly, they found both their new and old friend at the desk where they left them. 

“Haven’t you slept at all, Karl?” he asked, causing both of them to turn and look.

“Uh, not really,” the brunette replied sheepishly, “I guess I got a little carried away.”

The green clad figure almost seemed surprised that it had been that long as he peered out the cracks in the window to see the sun quite a ways from the horizon. “Wow, I didn’t even realize it was morning,” the god muttered, “we literally talked all night.”

“Thanks for letting us stay over,” Sapnap said, “but we should probably get going now if we wanna get back to base before noon.”

Exchanging goodbyes, the three of them departed from Karl’s cozy library. Counting to make sure they didn’t leave anything, they began to walk back to the old farmhouse.   
By the time they got home it was a little past noon, if the sun was anything to go by. It was a little harder to make it over the fence with all of their stuff but it wasn’t too hard. Walking into the house he opened the trapdoor so that he could put away the food they’d gotten from the market. He took care to place the sacks of food on the top shelves in the corner. It was where they usually stored the food since it was big enough to fit the sacks of provisions. Once they’d carefully stowed away the gold bar, everything was put away except for the stuff they’d bought for the house. Looking at the assorted items in his pack, he commented, “I guess the best time to start fixing the house would be now.”

“Ugh,” his friend groaned, “Do we really have to? Can’t we just leave that for tomorrow?”

“No, we’re definitely starting today,” Dream announced, “I don’t think I can stand another night just sitting around and waiting for you guys to wake up.” Putting down his bag of materials with a dull thunk, the figure peered into the bag curiously. His new friend looked up at him as if realizing something. 

“Uh, where do we start?”

It was startlingly easy to forget that Dream wasn’t from the world they knew. For a second there, George was shocked that his new friend hadn’t been taught some of the basic necessities before realizing that he was talking to a god that had lain dormant for who knows how long. Taking a moment to sit down and explain, he and Sapnap began drawing out a game plan in order to properly spawnproof and secure the house. 

“Well, first we have to try and clean out as much dust as possible. While we won’t be able to get all of the fallout the less there is the better. That way, it’ll be harder for any monsters to spawn.” he explained, pulling out a broom they found in one of the upstairs closets.

Sapnap continued, “Once we do that we need to board up any windows and probably cut some of the wire fence so that we have something to cover the chimney. If we’re going to be living up here we don’t want any spiders or phantoms coming in through the chimney.”

“Then the last thing we need to do is light up the whole inside of the building and rearrange the furniture.” he mentioned, “I think that’s it.”  
And so they went off to work on the house. It took a few tries for the god to try and figure out how to use the broom but he eventually got the hang of it. Starting from the bottom floor, they cleaned out as much of the dusty particles as they could. The main room on the first floor wasn’t too musty but that was because they went in and out all the time. The lack of door and busted windows let in a lot of drafts so it wasn’t as dusty as some of the rooms that were further in. It was a relatively barren room since the two of them had thrown out a lot of furniture already. It wasn’t like they were planning on using any of the rooms back then and it would only leave more options for any monsters that wanted to ambush them. They made quick work of it before moving to the next room. It was across from the front door and probably used to be a dining room. Besides three chairs and a circular table, there wasn’t much in the room. Directly adjacent was the kitchen which they wiped down a couple of times before moving onto the laundry room under the stairs. Now that one took a lot of work. There weren’t any windows and way too many fabrics. They had to take the assortment of blankets, curtains and tablecloths outside to try and beat the dust out of them.   
The second floor was more of the same. He and Sapnap had really only taken the blankets and pillows that were stored away in bags in the upstairs bedrooms because they were too lazy to mess with any of the really dusty ones left on the beds. Ironically enough, there were three bedrooms upstairs along with a bathroom. Perfect for the three of them once they shook the dust out of the dusty bed sheets and curtains. Nonetheless, they were all pretty pleased with their work after they’d finally gotten everything as clean as they could get it. While the counters and windowsills weren’t exactly sparkling, at least they didn’t have a layer of dust on them anymore. Using the boards and nails they bought during their trip to the market, the three of them began boarding up the windows. As far as George was concerned, it went relatively well aside from Sapnap constantly stealing his nails. There was a box for every person and there was no reason why he’d need any more. He had plenty of nails and shouldn’t have been stealing his! They chased each other across the lawn with their new friend wheezing at their antics. It got to a point where Dream had to step in to stop them from throwing clods of dirt anymore, scolding them with more amusement than irritation. Apart from that friendly little scuffle though, everything went smoothly. They even managed to make a sturdy little door for their humble abode. By the time the sun had begun its descent towards the horizon, the three of them had moved their stuff to the second floor. Well, more like him and Sapnap. Dream didn’t really have anything from the basement to bring up besides the chair that he sat in the first day he was here.   
Finally, they had to light up the upper stories of the farmhouse with a few torches before they could have dinner and go to sleep for the day. They were putting up the last few torches when there was a sharp knock on the door. Rushing downstairs, George called out, “I’m coming, just give me a moment!” He couldn’t help but wonder who was travelling at this hour. It was almost sunset at this point and strangers didn’t tend to stumble upon their base since it wasn’t by any large roads or well-known paths. Opening their new door cautiously, he was met with two familiar faces. Skeppy’s mop of black hair and tan hand practically burst into the room as he exclaimed, “Took you long enough! I could practically hear the undead spawning!” 

Immediately afterward a familiar cloaked figure cheerily greeted, “Hello George!” as the shadowy figure of Badboyhalo entered their humble abode. 

Soon Sapnap was tromping down the stairs since he’d probably heard the two of them as they practically busted into the farmhouse. “Hey guys!” he heard his friend call out as he came down. 

The duo cheerfully responded with equal enthusiasm as Dream and Sapnap came downstairs. To his surprise, Badboyhalo even said, “Oh hello Dream!” when he noticed the green cloaked figure that was the new addition to their little group. 

“You know him?” George asked incredulously. Of course he’d known that Badboyhalo wasn’t exactly human but he’d never expected him to know a god. The point that he was practically made of shadows and had two bright glowing eyes kind of gave it away but he didn’t expect their local wholesome shadow figure to know an Old God. 

As if just realizing how strange it was for him to know Dream, Bad explained, “Yeah, actually. We met a long time ago before all of the more powerful gods went into hibernation.”

“Geez,” Skeppy teased, “You’re old.”

“Shut up, you muffinhead,” Bad responded with a laugh.

“Hold up, does that mean you’re a god too?” Sapnap asked, “I mean I think it’s obvious that you aren’t human but you never really told us what you actually are.”

“He’s what people call a lesser god, actually,” Dream explained, “In the texts they usually refer to him as the Sentinel of the Dusk if you ever want to look him up.”

Before they could ask any more questions, Skeppy butted in, exclaiming, “I’m tiiireeddddd. We literally almost got lost on the way here. If it wasn’t for Bad’s night vision we would’ve been toast! We came back from a supply run that took longer than expected and then nearly got lost trying to find your house! I’m hungry and tired, and we can talk after we all have something to eat.” His words were punctuated by a loud rumble from his stomach.   
And so they brought the food they’d bought from Alyssa and sat down together at the dining table for the first time. The three chairs weren’t enough but that was okay. It was almost comical to see the god of power sitting in a little folding chair and Skeppy practically bouncing on the padded stool they found in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The whole room felt cozy and George couldn’t help but feel that this was the true final step to making the farmhouse into a home. They talked about anything and everything with the comfortable weight of a full belly. As they sat in the warm torchlight, he could’ve sworn that the porcelain white of Dream’s skin almost looked tan. Perhaps it was the lighting, but the once cadaverous fingers now looked more alive. Sitting there, laughing and exchanging stories, he almost forgot that Dream was anything but human.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went out and read about suggested chapter size for AO3 and I realized that I'm like several thousand words so uh... ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯  
> It'd be janky if I tried to cut up the chapters and reform them so I guess I'm just sticking with around 7,000 word chapters I suppose. I'm just basing them off of story events, so I was pleasantly surprised when both of them were 7,000 words long. Funky coincidence, am I right?
> 
> Anyways, Lunar New Year happened and while I know its late, Happy Lunar New Year!!

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fanfiction on AO3 and I literally have no idea what I'm doing. Please help. Also any and all constructive criticism is welcome! Please help me get better at writing! I'd really appreciate it. :)


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